Secretary of State Marco Rubio says President Donald Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland and retake control of the Panama Canal is driven by legitimate national security interests stemming from growing concerns about Chinese activity and influence in the Arctic and in Latin America.

When Marco Rubio arrives in Latin America this weekend on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump's secretary of state, he'll find a region reeling from the new administration's shock-and-awe approach to diplomacy.

China's influence on the Panama Canal is a major risk to U.S. national security, Sen. Ted Cruz told lawmakers during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill.

President Donald Trump's suggestion of the U.S. taking control of the Panama Canal has a legal basis partly due to potential treaty violations involving Chinese activities in Panama.

US senators heard sharply different analyses about Chinese influence over the Panama Canal on Wednesday, with some experts suggesting solutions ranging from enhanced trade partnerships to military intervention to regain control of the strategic waterway.

A key focus of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Central America this week — his first trip as America’s top diplomat — will be to counter China’s growing influence in the region, the State Department’s top spokesperson said this week,

Panama has owned and administered the Panama Canal for nearly three decades. President Trump wants to change that to counter growing Chinese influence in Latin America.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he had "zero doubt" that China has a contingency plan to shut down the Panama Canal in the event of a conflict with the U.S. and that Washington intends to address what it sees as a national security threat.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino says there will be no negotiation with the United States over ownership of the Panama Canal

It’s impossible, I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said when asked about returning the canal to U.S. control. “That is done. The canal belongs to Panama.”

The Panama Canal’s future security may depend less on scrutinizing foreign presences and more on rekindling the kind of robust American partnership that made the Canal’s success possible in the